Saundra

The FIRM's Tough Tape is a solid 42 minute total body workout. It uses the barbell, various dumbbells, and the tall step. It is a compilation workout taken from the Hare and Tortoise workout videos. This workout is hosted by and stars Tracie Long who is superb. This was Tracie's first outing as a lead. The workout moves quickly from one exercise to the next. Therefore, it is handy to know what weights you will need. The only annoyance with the workout is that in one of the leg press sets (there are three sets total), the count is not the same for the left and the right. I like this workout a lot and give it 4 stars. I have attached a worksheet of the exercises in Tough Tape in the order that they appear. Please click on the image for a larger view.

I am starting a 5 week rotation that starts Sunday February 28 and ends Satuday April 3. This rotation consist of aerobic weight training, kickboxing, and treadmill and step cardio. Saturday will be an active recovery day and rest day. I have chosen 20 to 30 minutes workouts to stretch out the body. Please click on the image for a larger view.

Rumble is not your typical Amy Bento hi low interval Kickboxing workout. This workout has 3 parts. The first part is kickboxing - 40 minutes, the second part is standing boxing bag -25 minutes (although you can just punch the air if you like) and the third part is about a 15 minute stretch. When I do this workout, I only ever do the first part and today was no different. I like the first part. As I stated previously, this is not the Amy Bento kickboxing you are used to. I love Amy's other kickboxing workout and I like Rumble well enough. With Rumble there is no complex choreography to learn. Essentially your are doing drill type combos; and you do the combos on each side (your right and your left). Within each combo, Amy first has you do a series of 8s, then 4s, and then she alternates them on both sides. There are a total of 4 combinations all together. This workout is not as intense as some of her others workouts. Never the less, I worked up a nice sweat. The music was g...

Step, Jump, & Pump is a 73 minute workout that includes a 26 minute step routine and approximately a 40 minute circuit style workout. Each circuit contains hi-low for cardio and 2 sets of various weighted/strength exercise. Rarely do I do the whole workout because this DVD contains one of my all time favorite Cathe premix which is the Step Hi Low only premix. However, I do like the full workout. The weight work leans towards muscle endurance. There are lots of reps within each set. This DVD has the music louder option which I love. The music used in the step routine was fun, the music for hi-low contain a real upbeat tempo whereas the music for the weight segments slowed the tempo down quite a bit. It takes a lot of energy to get to get to the end of this workout. Another reason I like the workout is that the step section didn't seem to be as repetitive as some step workouts. I think that was because of the time. One other thing I will point out is that you do the hi l...

Click on the Image for a larger view.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Click on the image for a larger view.